'How the English gentleman makes war in the colonies': securing naval supremacy on Lake Malawi, 1914-1916

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	'How the English gentleman makes war in the colonies': securing naval supremacy on Lake Malawi, 1914-1916
Author:	Newell, Jonathan
Year:	1993
Periodical:	The Society of Malawi Journal
Volume:	46
Issue:	1
Pages:	1-37
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Malawi Great Britain
Subjects:	colonialism navy World War I
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/29778677
Abstract:	The published material available which covers the British naval and amphibious operations that took place on Lake Malawi (then Lake Nyasa) in the First World War (also called the Great War) consists of two brief and sketchy articles in the 'Nyasaland Journal'. This paper examines naval operations on Lake Malawi during the years 1914-1916 by making use of the extensive files available to researchers in the Malawi National Archives in Zomba, and the material kept in the Public Record Office in London. The aim is to examine in detail how the British authorities secured control of Lake Malawi to their own satisfaction by eliminating any potential German naval threat to their vessels. The paper concentrates on the operations of the British steamship 'Guendolen', whose main target was the elimination of the much-feared German steamer the 'Hermann von Wissmann'. The British ultimately succeeded in capturing the German vessel, and in March 1918 it was officially taken over by the Senior Naval Officer and renamed the 'King George'. Notes, ref.